It is in 1930 that the training of mining engineers began in Eastern Siberia on the basis of the Siberian Mining Institute (now Irkutsk National Research Technical University). In 1931 the Department of Mining Arts was organized, which later was named the Department of Mineral Deposits Development. Over the years, the Department has trained more than 7000 graduates – mining engineers, who made a huge contribution in the development of the mining industry in the Irkutsk region and neighboring

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... ritories including Mongolia. The Department has trained more than a hundred mining engineers and Masters of science for Mongolia; assisted the lecturers and professors of the Mongolian Polytechnic University (now Mongolian University of Science and Technology) in organizing the educational process for training specialists for the country's mining industry. At its different formation stages the Department of Mineral Deposits Development was headed by well-known scientists – mining engineers, who created three scientific schools for the development of coal, placer and gold deposits; the obtained scientific results were marked with two State awards of the Russian Federation, dozens of doctoral and candidate dissertations were defended and about 100 patents were received. Today, the Department super- vises the training of mining engineers in open-pit and underground mining of mineral deposits, carries out a large amount of research and design work on the orders from mining enterprises, trains academic staff, develops new technologies and technical solutions in order to improve mining operations. The Department is deeply involved in the cooperation with mining enterprises, research and design organizations, as well as with universities that train mining engineers.